BEST 3-Way LINE: Bet365 +160 

Posted at 1:15 PM.

Regulation only. We could play the Red Wings at -105 which includes OT but much prefer them taking back this sweet price in asking them to win in regulation. Detroit has played three OT games in a row and four OT games in their past five so the odds say that it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll go to OT again for the fourth time in succession. Philadelphia is playing better after a difficult start with two wins in its past three games against Pittsburgh at the Igloo and against Dallas at American Airlines. In between that, they lost in Chicago, 4-0. The Flyers return home from a tough, three-game trip against those three juggernaut offenses. They have allowed four goals or more in five of their past six games and while their offense has compensated, the Flyers win expectation is lower than most because they give up way too many goals and chances. Philly’s goaltending has been shaky and their weak defense, that can’t get out of its own end, just got weaker with two regulars going down (Andy MacDonald and Braydon Coburn) on that aforementioned trip.

The Red Wings have picked up points in five straight. They just defeated the Penguins and prior to that they lost in Montreal, 2-1 in OT. In that game at the Forum, Detroit had a 1-0 lead late in the third when they appeared to make it 2-0 but the goal was wrongly disallowed and Montreal scored with 3 minutes remaining to tie it and eventually win it in OT. The Red Wings have not allowed more than three goals against in any of their seven games to date. They have allowed two or less in four of those. Detroit’s defense has shown remarkable progress over the past calendar year. They are all moving the puck well and getting tremendous help from forwards coming back. That was before Pavel Datsyuk returned and with Datsyuk in the lineup, and now playing in his third game after missing the first five, the Red Wings are even more dangerous. We’ve been high on Detroit since the start of the season. We see a well-balanced team that is paying great attention to details. They aren’t scoring as much as we anticipated but that’s just a matter of time because they are creating chances and they are loaded with offense. The Red Wings are in a decent spot here too, as they catch Philly coming off three intense road games against three quality opponents and there's a good chance of Philly coming out flat. Even if Philly isn't flat, we still like the superior Red Wings in this spot.